An automated piano outside the delivery room plays a wedding march when mothers walk past with their newborn baby.
“We want to express that a birth is as joyful as a wedding,” Chen said.
Its innovations have proved a hit with mothers such as Wang Dan, who are willing to pay its hefty fees.
“I felt really happy when the wedding music played, because some people are in a lot of pain after giving birth, but I was simply excited,” she said, adding that she did not use an anesthetic.
However, downstairs from Antai’s water-birth suite, doctors are still busy performing Caesareans.
Chen doubts that China’s Caesarean rate will fall significantly, because of the financial incentives hospitals face.
“No matter how much you promote natural birth, it’s ultimately a matter of economics,” he said.
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